Gas grills have become very popular as outdoor portable cooking devices. Gas barbecue grills generally consist of a cooking chamber supported by a support frame. Portable gas grills employ a cart-type support frame for the cooking chamber that is supported on wheels and has a cooking chamber thereon. These support structures are usually made of square tubing sections connected together with fasteners, such as bolts and the like. In recent years, and particularly in connection with gas grills, an effort has been made by the industry to increase cooking space and work space on the grill. As such, the support frames of the grills are often equipped to have a work table surface adjacent to the cooking chamber, or an auxiliary burner. Accordingly, size and complexity of the grills has increased. While certain of such grill designs have had a good degree of success, certain problems exist. For example, the added size and component complexity of these grills has reduced portability of the grills and has also made it more difficult to store the grills when not in use, such as in cold weather seasons.
Further, when side accessories, such as work tables, are attached to and extend from the cart frame, the side structure is generally weak resulting in loss of integrity of the side accessory attachment. To avoid this problem, various support arms which extend diagonally from the outer underside of the side table to the support frame have been employed. The result of these designs is a cart structure that has exposed unsightly support members, and which has more parts and connections, making it even more difficult to assemble.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a grill with ample cooking and work space but which is relatively easily transported and stored.
Additionally, to increase the portability of gas grills and make it easier to store the grill during periods of non-use, an improved gas supply system is required. As such, it is a further object to provide such a grill with features which provide an enhanced gas supply system, including an improved gas manifold.
It is also an object to provide such a grill which is suitable for compact packaging and is superior in construction with relatively minimum manufacturing cost and assembly time related thereto.